Package vending device



Feb. 25, 1958 K. HAUSLADEN 2,

PACKAGE VENDING DEVICE Filed July 16, 1954 2 Shets-Sheet 1 IN VEN TOR.ffarllfaasjaden,

Feb. 25, 1958 K. HAUSLADEN PACKAGE VENDING DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FiledJuly 16, 1954 INVENTOR. Karl/fazzs/adm.

United States Patent PACKAGE VENDING DEVICE Karl Hausladen,Clieektowaga, N. Y.

Application July 16, 1954, Serial No. 443,810

3 Claims. (Cl. 221-232) My invention relates to package vending machinesand more particularly to package vending devices which do not requirethe use of a coin for their operation.

A great many coin operated package vending machines are in more or lesssatisfactory use today, however a considerably greater number ofpackages are stored in open racks or on open shelves and are sold overthe counter by salespeople. The coin operated package vending machines,being quite complex mechanisms, are expensive to manufacture and serviceso that the selling price of packages so vended, isusually higher thanthe price of a package bought over the counter. For example, a packageof cigarettes which sells over the counter for 22 costs 25 whenpurchased from a cigarette vending machine.

As in the case of many packaged goods, the profit on a single package ofcigarettes is relatively small, and when they are arranged in openplaces in a manner to facilitate their location, removal and sale moreor less pilfering occurs and reduces the small net profit more or less.

The objects of my invention are to provide a simple and inexpensivevending device which is manually operable to quickly vend packages; toprovide a vending device which does not require a coin for itsoperation; to provide a vending device which encases a plurality ofpackages in a manner to make pilferihg of the packages diflicult; toprovide a vending device which may be conveniently arranged tofacilitate locating a desired brand of packaged goods; and to provide avending device which, after being manually operated by a sales-person toposition a single package for removal from the device by a purchaser, isautomatically reset for successive package positioning and vendingoperations.

2 In the drawings:

- Figure 1 is a perspective view showing one form of my device adoptedfor vending a plurality of different brands of cigarette packages and asecond form adopted for vending a single brand of cigarette packages,both forms being shown mounted on the top of a show case.

Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the multiple brand vendingform of my device shown in Figure 1 and istaken about on the line 2-2thereof.

Figure 3 is a transverse sectional view taken about on the line 3-3 ofFigure 2. I

Figure 4 is a top plan view of the single brand form of my vendingdevice shown in Figure 1.

Figure 5 is a bottom plan view of the single brand form of my vendingdevice with the bottom wall removed to more clearly show the operatingmechanism.

Figure 6 is a central longitudinal sectional view of the vending deviceshown in Figure 4.

Figure 7 is a perspective view of the operating lever of both forms andFigure 8 is a transverse section taken about on the line 8-8 of Figure6.

In Figures 1 through 3 a housing generally indicated by the numeral 10is formed with a set of upper and lower compartments 11 which arehorizontally disposed with th upper set rearwardly onset lrom the lowerset'to allow vending packages truth the latter and are tormed withpai'allei top and bottom walls 14 and 1:, parallel sicle vvalis lo andiront and rear walls 17 and 10' respectively. 'ine top wall 14 or thelower compartment is rormed as a coplanar rorward extension or thebottom wall 1: of the top compartment to conserve space and material. APal'lJLlUH 17 extending between the side walls in parallel i-eiauon tothe top anu bottom walls or each compartment serves to divide eachcompartment into an upper chamber 12, and a lower chamber 1.5. Each otthe chambers 12, being of rectangular cross-section of a side toslidaoiy receive either a king-size of regular size package ofcigarettes 20 in an upright position (rigure 5), are made long enough tohouse ten packages of cigarettes (a carton) and means [01' moving thepackages 20 rorwaroly in their chamber. bacll chamber is provided with apackage moving means which is preteraoly tormed ot' a section ofheiicaiiy wound spring wire to rorm a compression spring 21 which hasone enu anchored to a removable portion 22 or the rear wall 15 or itschamber and its tree end bearing against the rearmost package of thepackages of cigarettes 20 contained therein, thereby to lflolllfillllyurge all or a lesser number of the packages forwardly in their chambers;

the rear wall portions 22 may be removably secured to the housing 10 tonormally close the rear ends of their chambers 12 in any suitablemanner. For example each portion 22 may have its lower end provided withprojections 23 formed and arranged to interengage with recesses 24formed in the fixed portion of the rear wall 18, its upper end providedwith a latch 25 engageable with the housing, its inner face providedwith lugs 26 spaced to enter the chamber 13 and engage its side walls 16to prevent it from shifting laterally, and may be provided with asuitable finger piece or knob 27 to facilitate its removal andreplacement.

Upon any of the chambers 12 being emptied its portion 22 together withits spring 21 are removed, thus allowing that chamber to bequicklyreloaded with ten more packages of cigarettes which, when the portion 22is replaced and latched, are forced forwardly in the chamber by thespring 21. The spring 21 is preferably encased by a protective flexiblecovering 28 which may be made of any suitable material.

Each of the chambers 13 is provided with a manually operable lever 30which is pivoted intermediate its ends by being secured to the center ofa transversely disposed fulcrum member 31 which is pivotally mounted ona pivot rod 32 which extends longitudinally through the member 31 andtransversely through the side walls 16.

The outer end portion of each of the levers 30 extends through anopening 18 in the rear wall 18 of its chamber and this extension has itsfree end provided with a finger piece or knob 33 by which the lever isoperated.

Each lever'30, rearwardly of its fulcrum member 31, is provided with anopening 34 (Figure 7) which fits loosely over a vertically disposed pin35. The pin 35,. having its opposite ends anchored in the .bottom wall16 and the partition 19 is provided with a coil compression Spring 36one end of which bears upon the bottom wall 16 and the other end ofwhichbears against the underside side of the lever 30, thereby acting to holdthe lever in an inwardly and downwardly inclined normal position and toreturn the lever to its normal position automatically after the leverhas been depressed and released (Figures 2 and 6).

The inner end of the top wall 14 of each upper chamber 12 terminatesshort of its front wall 17 to provide a package delivery opening 37 andthe inner end of each partition 19 terminates short of the front wall 17to pro- Patentecl Feb. 25, 1958 vide a similar opening 38. A T-shapedpackage eiecting block 40 is secured across the inner end of each lever30 by a suitable screw 39 (Figures 5 and 6) and includes ahead '41 whichisof .asizeiand formed .topass. freely through theassociatediopeningi38.

With the lever-30 .in its. normal position .itsinnerzend rests on thebottom wall 16 and thetop surface 42 of the head 41 lies inthe plane ofthe top surface ofthe partition 19, thus supporting the-foremost.package of cigarettes in the plane of the other packagesaand. allowingthese packages tosuccessively slide .thereacross when the foremostpackage is entirelyremoved from the device. It will be apparent thatwhen'the lever, block and foremost package of cigarettes .are intheir-normal lowered positions, the top of the .foremostpackage ofcigarettes is exposed, but since it lies belowthetop wall and since the.delivery opening 37 .is only slightly larger than the package .itcannot be,readily pilferedv It will also be apparentthat when .the knob.33 is depressed by finger pressure the .block 40 swings through theopening 38 and raises the foremost package to an-elevated position inwhich its top portion may be grasped to completely remove the packagefrom the device (Figures 2 and 6).

The purpose of superposing. and offsetting the multiple sets ofcompartments .in the form of my vending device shown in Figures 1through 3 is, as stated above, to conserve space, howeverwhenspacesaving is unimportant any number of the single compartmentforrnof my vending device shown in Figures 4 through 8 maybe used andarranged as desired.

The front wall 17 of both forms as indicated in Figure 1 are preferablyprovided with-suitable markings or labels 17' to quickly indicate to thebuyer the brand name and the price of the packages of cigarettescontained in each compartment and the portion 22 0f the rear wall 18 ofboth forms are preferably provided with suitable markings or labels 22'to assist the seller in quickly locating and dispensing or vending thedesired brand of cigarettes.

The two forms of my vending device, aside from the multiplicity ofcompartments in one form, are essentially the same excepting that in thesingle compartment form, the bottom wall 15a is removable and extendedbeyond the side walls, and the top wall 14 is provided with a block 14formed and arranged to receive and display additional advertisingmatter.

In both forms of my vending device the operating mechanism is thesameand since the predetermined distance the foremost package is raised issuch that only the upper portion of the package projects above the topwall, the action of the spring 21 causes thepackage to remain in itselevated position when the lever and block return to their normalpositions through the action of the spring 36. Thus elevated and heldthe package may be thereafter grasped and completely removed from thedevice.

The elevated position in which thepackage is held for removal may beconveniently determined by the forward end of the lever 30 abutting theforwardend portion of the partition 19 (Figures 2 and 6). The advantageof my means for partially ejecting and holding the package in a positionto be grasped and removed is that no additional means are required toreceive and hold the package pending its removal.

Notwithstanding that it has been elected to show and aeegeee describe mypackage vending device as adopted for use in vending packages ofcigarettes, it will be understood that the principles of my inventionare adoptable for vending other packaged goods and that variousmodifications and rearrangements of the component parts of my device maybe made within the scope of the appended claims, wherein I claim:

1. A package vending device comprising a housing formed to providea-chamber, a single .partition extending longitudinally of the chamberand arranged to divide it into a larger upper compartment and a smallerlower compartment longitudinally,coextensive therewith, said partitionterminating short of one end wall of the housing to provide a passagewaybetween said compartments, the upper compartment slidably receiving aplurality of end supported packages and being provided with a packagedelivery opening in its top wall opposite to and alined withsaidpassageway, means in the larger compartment for resiliently urgingthe packages toward said one end wall, over the passageway and beneaththe delivery opening, and a single first-class leverpivotally mountedwithin and extending longitudinally through the lower compartment, theouter end of the lever being extended beyond the end wall of the housingremote from the passageway for operation by finger pressure and theinner end of the lever being formed and located for swinging movementthrough said passageway to move the foremost of the packages upwardlythrough the delivery opening when finger pressure is applied to theouter end of the lever.

2. A package vending device as set forth in claim 1 wherein the innerend portion of the partition also serves as a stop to limit the packagedelivering swinging movement of the lever to a distance less than thatrequired to fully move the package from its chamber, whereby during itsdelivery each package is partially ejected by such movement of the leverand beingheld in its elevated position by the resilient means may begrasped and removed.

3. A package vending device as set forth in claim 1 wherein a head isrigidly secured to the inner end of the lever, said head approximatingthe area of and being freely movable through the passageway when thelever is swung from its normal position by finger pressure on its outerend and the .mass of the head together with the length of that portionof the lever arm to which it is secured is such that the head and thelever return to their normal positions when finger pressure is removedfrom the outer end of the lever.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS132,325 Ryninger Oct. 15, 1872 165,579 Hill July 13, 1875 551,156 DayDec. 10, 1895 781,026 Scharff Jan. 31, 1905 863,896 Beckmann Aug. 20,1907 920,349 Lane May 4, 1909 1,019,093 Shanks Mar. 5, 1912 1,291,420Cough Jan. 14, 1919 1,467,627 Thimgren Sept. 11, 1923 1,614,363 HicksIan. 11, 1927 1,682,827 Brand Sept. 4, 1928 1,723,497 Zucchelli Aug. 6,1929 2,445,201 Anderson July 13, 1948

